(57) In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor optical waveguide array in an ultra-high
integration, the device yield per wafer is considerably increased and uniform and
improved characteristics are obtained. In this method, there is manufactured a semiconductor
optical waveguide array including a plurality of optical waveguides in an array structure
in stripe-shaped growth regions enclosed by dielectric thin films on a substrate.
The waveguides are fabricated through a selective crystal growth process and include
a semiconductor multilayer structure including a quantum well layer or a semiconductor
multilayer structure including a bulk layer. Namely, there is formed a plurality of
stripe-shaped growth regions elongated parallel to each other, the regions being enclosed
with a dielectric thin film. In each growth region, a semiconductor multilayer structure
is selectively grown by metallo-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). In the selective
growth, the growth regions are parallel to each other with an interval therebetween,
the interval being less than a diffusion length of a source material in a reactive
tube during the crystal growth. Assuming that the dielectric thin film arranged between
the respective growth regions has a width Wa and a first outer-most dielectric thin
film and a second outer-most dielectric thin film arranged respectively outside of
outer-most ones of the growth regions respectively have widths Wm1 and Wm2, there is satisfied a relationship of Wm1 > Wa and Wm2 > Wa.
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